Joe Biden’s Department of Justice says that the John Durham report into Obamagate should be submitted in a way allowing for public release, reports the Washington Examiner. This, on its face, sounds like good news.
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) had requested answers from Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the status of the investigation, but Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joe Gaeta wrote in response to their inquiry that he could not comment on an ongoing investigation. However, he did note that “the Special Counsel, to the maximum extent possible and consistent with the law and policies and practices of the Department of Justice, shall submit to the Attorney General a final report, and such interim reports as he deems appropriate, in a form that will permit public dissemination.”
“The Department agrees with this statement,” Gaeta added.
Earlier this month, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said he expects the Durham report will result in “prison sentences for some former senior Obama officials.”
Related: NUNES: The Durham Report Is Still Coming; Some Obama Officials Will Go to Prison
“I just have to have faith ultimately, that there’s that, you know, there was a special counsel created, Durham does have the power. We’re fully expecting him to deliver the report,” Nunes said. “It may not be as broad as we want it to be. But look, there are some major perpetrators. I think, as you and everybody else know, we’ve made over 14 criminal referrals. That doesn’t mean 14 individuals, that means 14 different criminal referrals involving multiple individuals… And this is one of the challenges.”
Durham’s investigation has already resulted in a guilty plea from former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who admitted to falsifying documents as the FBI was seeking to renew its FISA warrant against Carter Page.
This affirmation from the Department of Justice is somewhat reassuring, especially given that during his confirmation hearings, now-Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to promise to protect special counsel John Durham’s investigation, nor would he commit to releasing the report to the public.
A reading of the language of the letter from Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gaeta could be construed as an attempt to deny the public release of the report if the DOJ deems it in a form that doesn’t “permit public dissemination.” I guess we’ll have to see if the Department of Justice tries to pull any tricks when the report is complete. Gaeta could have meant that the report will have to go through the necessary redaction process before public release. This is definitely possible, but I’m not entirely convinced that the Biden DOJ wants this report released, and I wouldn’t put it past them to come up with some ridiculous reason to keep it classified.
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